The Lamp in the Desert eBook

“Nothing particular; but I presume your sister
has.” There was just a hint of irony in
the quiet rejoinder.

Tommy winced. “Stella! Great Scott,
no! She doesn’t care the toss of a halfpenny
for him. I know that now. She only accepted
him because she found herself in such a beastly anomalous
position, with all the spiteful cats of the regiment
arrayed against her, treating her like a pariah.”

“Did she tell you so?” There was no irony
in Monck’s tone this time. It fell short
and stern.

Again Tommy glanced at him as one uncertain.
“Not likely,” he said.

“Then why do you make the assertion? What
grounds have you for making the assertion?”
Monck spoke with insistence as one who meant to have
an answer.

And the boy answered him, albeit shamefacedly.
“I really can’t say, Monck. I’m
the sort of fool that sees things without being able
to explain how. But that Stella has the faintest
spark of real love for that fellow Dacre,—­well,
I’d take my dying oath that she hasn’t.”

“Some women don’t go in for that sort
of thing,” commented Monck dryly.

Monck laughed a little. “Oh, you’re
deep enough, Tommy. But you’re transparent
as well. Now your sister on the other hand is
quite inscrutable. But it is not for us to interfere.
She probably knows what she is doing—­very
well indeed.”

“That’s just it. Does she know?
Isn’t she taking a most awful leap in the dark?”
Keen anxiety sounded in Tommy’s voice. “It’s
been such horribly quick work, you know. Why,
she hasn’t been out here six weeks. It’s
a shame for any girl to marry on such short notice
as that. I said so to her, and she—­she
laughed and said, ’Oh, that’s beggar’s
choice! Do you think I could enjoy life with
your angels in paradise in unmarried bliss? I’d
sooner stay down in hell with you.’ And
she’d have done it too, Monck. And it would
probably have killed her. That’s partly
how I came to know.”

“Haven’t the women been decent to her?”
Monck’s question fell curtly, as if the subject
were one which he was reluctant to discuss.

Tommy looked at him through the starlight. “You
know what they are,” he said bluntly. “They’d
hunt anybody if once Lady Harriet gave tongue.
She chose to eye Stella askance from the very outset,
and of course all the rest followed suit. Mrs.
Ralston is the only one in the whole crowd who has
ever treated her decently, but of course she’s
nobody. Everyone sits on her. As if,”
he spoke with heat, “Stella weren’t as
good as the best of ’em—­and better!
What right have they to treat her like a social outcast
just because she came out here to me on her own?
It’s hateful! It’s iniquitous!
What else could she have done?”

“It seems reasonable—­from a man’s
point of view,” said Monck.

“It was reasonable. It was the only thing
possible. And just for that they chose to turn
the cold shoulder on her,—­to ostracize her
practically. What had she done to them? What
right had they to treat her like that?” Fierce
resentment sounded in Tommy’s voice.